Discuss Austen's Presentation of Emma

Summary: In the first Volume of "Emma", Austen has portrayed a character we doth find immature and naïve, but also endearing and kind hearted. Her obsession with class status means she appears to us as snobbish and above her station, plus the fact that we do not necessarily like what she is doing to her friend Harriett, whom she seems to be misleading.

Emma Woodhouse is one of Jane Austen's most famous characters. She in bodies the image of upper-middle class England in the 1880's, as we see in how her ideas are firmly routed in the importance of class hierarchy and how she sees herself as well above most of the other characters in the book, making her out to be snobbish. Austen has also chosen to give Emma a unique sense of freedom, she is entirely self sufficient, she has no real need of more money and lives a comfortable life, this allows Emma the freedom of having no rush to get married, unlike many girls of the time, whose only chance for a secure future was to marry into a rich family. Although the reader is put off by Emma's snobbery, we are at the same time endeared to her as we see how she looks after her...